AEL&P not the hero
Murray Walsh's cartoonesque depiction, in his June 3 My Turn, of the mighty Alaska Electric Light & Power Co. coming to the aid of the "gentle people" of Juneau vs. the evil Albert Petrarca smacks of obsequiousness and of expert lobbying.

Grateful for Bartlett
During a cruise last week, I became ill and required a stop at the clinic in Skagway and med-flight to the Bartlett Regional Hospital.

Genetics is only part of one's inheritance
Now that Barack Obama appears to be the Democratic candidate for President of our nation, he is being described as "Aman" of color. I'm not quite sure what that means. I, too, happen to be a man of color, and until I get a suntan, my skin is white. Well, not really white, but close to it.

Calling for unity on Darfur
This is the hour for every participating citizen to get involved in the atrocities that are happening in Darfur. We can all play a vital role in stopping the conflict by putting pressure on our local and presiding governmental officials to take action on this most desperate situation. In all our hearts we may want to do good, but this is now the opportunity to actually extend our hand of brotherhood to those who are without a voice, and without hope.

Stabler's Point hauling approved for Saturdays
Juneau planning commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday night to allow hauling on Saturdays this year from the city-run Stabler's Point rock quarry, a month after denying a similar request.

Photo: Stomping out weeds
Brothers Noah, left, and Seth Machakos pull weeds Monday at the Juneau Community Garden. The siblings and their mother, Julie Machakos, were putting in their five hours of service, a requirement to use a plot at the garden.

Photo: Candidate tours Juneau
Diane Benson, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress, left, speaks Monday with Lemon Creek Correctional Center Superintendent G. Scott Wellard at the prison. Benson was in Juneau to campaign and attend Celebration 2008. She visited the state prison to see firsthand its staffing and programming issues.

Eaglecrest Ski Area road, lift construction 'going well'
Gravel trucks rumble past the Ptarmigan ski lift every five minutes to drop loads of freshly quarried rock and push the new maintenance road closer to the 2,600-foot Eagle's Nest summit house at Eaglecrest Ski Area, while foundation holes for the new mid-mountain lift are dug out and drilled into good rock.

Photo: An ounce of prevention
City workers Ben Merritt, left, and Bob Clauder put up a sign Tuesday morning warning anglers that fishing from the gangway and approach are prohibited at the Wayside Park fishing float. The city also put up part of a fence along the gangway to prevent fishing. The popular fishing dock is across the street from the Juneau Empire building on Channel Drive. City Port Director John Stone said the Docks and Harbors Board considered the fence for a number of years. "Finally we just said,'We need to do something to prevent any potential accidents from occurring,'" Stone said. By the afternoon, there were a half-dozen people fishing from the gangway.

The bear and the fox
My son, Allan, was digging through a pile of old pictures, and this one was taken in 1938. That's me staring in awe at that monstrous black bear as he downs a bucket of sweets.

Recognitions
Isaac Cadiente, a 2003 Juneau-Douglas High School Graduate, received an eight-week paid internship with Duke University to study biological sciences at the Las Cruces Biological Reserve in Costa Rica this summer.

Fiddling with our food
"Why are there so many fiddleheads wanting to be picked?" My daughter's voice was filled with angst, her head tossed back in primal frustration. She looked at me, begging me to solve the eternal struggle of the gatherer. Why so much all at once?

WISEWOMAN hosts two golf clinics for 'Rally For The Cure'
HAINES - The SouthEast Alaska Regional Health Consortium WISEWOMAN and Breast and Cervical Health Programs are teaming up with Valley of the Eagles Golf Links and Driving Range in Haines to host two golf clinics for women to help them prepare for the "Rally For The Cure" Summer Scramble Golf Outing in August.

Crescendo Scholarship for youth string players still available
JUNEAU - The Juneau Arts and Humanities Council is accepting applications for the Crescendo Scholarship, a need-based scholarship open to local string players entering preschool or first through sixth grade. Deadline for applications is at 5 p.m. on June 16.

Central Council to host workshop on grant writing
JUNEAU - To help tribal citizens, members of the nonprofit community and government agencies decipher the intricacies of the grant seeking process, the Business and Economic Development Department of the Central Council Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska will host the Grantsmanship Training Program, July 7-11, at the Vocational Training and Resource Center.

Congrats for winning the derby, good job
Congratulations to "Stormin'" Norman, for winning the Spring King Salmon Derby. He's doing the right thing with the money, which he's using for college, and the two airline tickets, which he's giving to his parents.

Thanks for stepping in on South Tee Harbor
On June 1, a cabin fire was reported on South Tee Harbor on Point Stevens. This area can only be reached by a foot trail or in a few locations by boat, making this a very difficult location for the fire department to operate.

World Ocean Day aims celebrate Coastal Communities
JUNEAU - More than 25 organizations from throughout Southeast, Anchorage and Seattle will come together to celebrate World Ocean Day from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, June 14, at the new NOAA Ted Stevens Marine Research Institute at Lena Point in Juneau.

Dandelions: Don't plant a problem
Over the past several weeks, local gardeners have been busily turning soil, planting seeds and transplanting what they hope will thrive in the short celebration that is summer in Juneau.

Photo: Territorial Sportsmen scholarships
From left, Lindsay Birk, Sam Messerschmidt, Nicholas Ramseth and Richard Hoffman, graduating high school seniors, were each awarded scholarships in May by the Territorial Sportsmen Scholarship Foundation Inc. These scholarships, $12,000 each, will be used to partially fund expenses during the students' college studies. Not pictured is Colton Baker, who was awarded a vocational/technical scholarship for $1,500.

Pata, Johnson to wed
Jacqueline Lee Johnson, of Fairfax, Va., and Chris Allen Pata, of Chico, Calif., will marry at 5 p.m. Saturday, June 14, 2008, at the Auke Village Recreation Area main shelter. The reception will be held at 6:30 p.m. at the Tlingit and Haida Community Center.

DeTemple, Castillo to wed
Shauna Rene DeTemple and John Thomas Castillo, of Juneau, will marry in a small ceremony with family and friends at 8:30 p.m. on July 8, 2008, at the Wedding Bells Chapel in Las Vegas.

Stears, Hill to wed
Kendra Stears of Juneau and Trevor Hill of Hoonah are celebrating their wedding, which will be at 6 p.m. on Saturday, June 14, at Glacier Gardens with a reception to follow.

Heumann, Clair to wed
Laura Chapin Heumann and Austen Roche Harrison Clair, of Juneau, are engaged to be married in a spring 2009 wedding in Juneau.

Varness, Knox to wed
Ingrid Varness, of Juneau, and Felix Knox, of of Anchorage, will marry at 2 p.m. Saturday, June 14, 2008, in Wasilla.

Beth Kay Ogden
Longtime resident Beth Kay Ogden died peacefully on June 8, 2008, in Juneau, with her daughter and son-in-law by her side. She was 89.

Robert Earl Ritter
Longtime Juneau resident Robert Earl Ritter died Feb. 13, 2008, in Albuquerque, N.M. He was 63.

Outside editorial: The days of cheap oil prices are gone
As the price of oil creeps beyond $4 per gallon, Americans struggle to reorient their driving habits and wonder whether this crisis has an end. Experts say that high fuel prices are here to stay. As Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. said a few days ago, "I don't see a lot of short-term answers."

Outside editorial: Feed to lead
The United States cannot lead if it is hated. If Americans still aspire to remake the world as a more democratic, more prosperous place with fewer terrorists and nuclear weapons states, if we seek global cooperation on issues ranging from counter-proliferation to climate change, we must set about earning back the goodwill of nations. The tragic global hunger crisis, which has swelled the ranks of the world's most miserable, provides the U.S. with a golden opportunity to do good while rebuilding its shattered global leadership credentials. We should seize the chance to win friends and confound our enemies by showing the world that the United States is the sole superpower when it comes to generosity.

Lessons from the poor
Listening to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton repeat stories they claim to have been told by the poor and the unemployed, who are unable to pay for food and medicine and feel miserable about it, is enough to make one think we are living in a Third World dictatorship and not the United States of America. But victimhood and a "can't do" spirit is what the Democratic Party has mostly been about since the Great Depression.

Opinion: Reflections on the power crisis
Juneau's energy crisis is over, at least as far as consuming diesel for electricity is concerned. We should applaud the effort by Alaska Electric Light & Power Co. to rebuild the Snettisham towers well ahead of the schedule anticipated immediately after the massive avalanches brought them down. As we begin to return to our old ways, let's not forget what we learned about energy conservation.

Still waiting to hear from the poor
A few words about white trash. I've always found that term offensive, its ubiquity notwithstanding. I have a number of reasons, but the most important is that it is a gratuitous insult to the white poor. Of course, they are one of the few groups remaining one can insult with relative impunity.

Bicknell likely wins middle school bid
JUNEAU - Juneau-based Bicknell Inc. was the apparent low-bidder for a paving and landscaping project at Dzantik'i Heeni Middle School, according to a city official.

Slow schedule spurs pipeline delay concerns
TransCanada Corp.'s pipeline bid for an exclusive natural gas pipeline license may not require the full 60 days allotted, but some legislators are troubled by how long it may take.

Palin reverses course on LNG pipeline plan
Gov. Sarah Palin began campaigning for office two years ago as a supporter of bringing Alaska's vast natural gas reserves to market as liquefied natural gas exported through Valdez, popularly known as the "All-Alaska" gas pipeline proposal.

Fairbanks mayor supports Palin approach on pipeline
ANCHORAGE - The mayor of the Fairbanks North Star Borough, a board member of the Alaska Gasline Port Authority, is supporting Gov. Sarah Palin's approach to building a natural gas pipeline and her decision to back Canadian pipeline builder TransCanada.

Supreme Court dismisses a Pebble initiative
ANCHORAGE - The Alaska Supreme Court on Monday dismissed one of two "clean water" ballot initiatives aimed at blocking development of the Pebble copper and gold prospect in Southwest Alaska.

Proposed bridge faces questions
ANCHORAGE - After five years and $41.5 million spent on planning, one of southcentral Alaska's most ambitious development dreams, the Knik Arm Bridge, is at a crossroads.

Groups to sue over polar bears
ANCHORAGE - Two conservation groups have given the federal government formal notice they intend to sue to protect polar bears from petroleum exploration and drilling off Alaska's coast.

Photo: Over the edge
A board from a railing at the Federal Building parking lot floats near a police car Sunday in Thomas Basin in Ketchikan. The car, driven by Sgt. Howard Townsend, went through a small concrete wall and into the basin early in the morning.